Once again, Candy Cane making will alternate between Candy Palace on Main Street USA in Disneyland and Trolley Treats over on Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure.

HOW IT WORKS

Though you are not supposed to line up before park opening, the truth is… many folks do exactly that. My advice? Plan on arriving 30-45 minutes prior to park opening (and if you can get in on a morning extra magic hour, that’s even better).

Wristbands will be given out at park opening.

In previous years, 40 wristbands were distributed per batch with three batches per day. So, 120 wristbands were given out at park opening, with the earliest guests in line receiving a wristband for the earliest batches.

PLEASE NOTE that your wristband will get you ONE candy cane, and there is a limit of TWO wristbands per guest. Lines start at whichever candy kitchen is producing candy canes for the day (dates are listed later in this post). SO follow the instructions of the Cast Members to Candy Palace or Trolley Treats… at a fast clip .

Your wristband will have the date and batch time listed on it. You may pick up your candy cane any time after your batch time, but prior to 4PM. If you don’t pick up your cane by 4PM, it will be sold to someone waiting on standby.

THE DATES

Please note that these dates are subject to change. Additional dates may be added.

Well, I’ve been trying to get a candy cane since Black Friday, so if you are not a hotel guest, don’t even bother after 8:30 am (on a non magic hour day).
Here is what I found out for those of us who have done the candy canes and are surprised at how quickly they are disappearing this year. For those of you who haven’t done the candy canes before, still give it a try, they are worth it but after 8:30 this year, don’t bother. Here’s why…

Disneyland claims that they have a separate batch for the magic hour guests, however, by 8:10 am they are already completely out of wristbands. Is that claim true? Make your own guesses at that, because other Disneyland guests that was looking and I was talking to says its not, and some of them are Pass holders who enter the gates at about 8:05 am and they’re already out, and I got there at 8:15 am! So the question, is Disneyland really going to stick to that story? Just tell the truth already, early morning entrance people are there and the wristbands are already almost gone before 8 for everyone who is not a hotel guest.

Now this morning, a friend decided to try for one, was there this morning, a non-magic hour day, got there at about 8:30 am, again already out, apparently this year guests are receiving more than 1 wristband, it is supposed to be 1 wristband per present Disneyland guest at the candy shop, but this year 1 person is getting two or more wristbands, and that is what an employee told them, ‘They can get 1 or 2 or whatever wristbands for the candy canes.’

Unless you are at the front of the line, don’t even bother trying unless you are a hotel guest at magic hour, this year, that seems to be the only way to get one unless you happen to be at the gate at exactly 8am, and even then that’s not a guarantee this year.

FYI, for what it’s worth I went today (Sunday the 6th) and got two candy canes! I was parking around 7 a.m.,they had security open so I went through that (no line) and was in line at the Disneyland entrance gates at 7:25. There were at least ten lines with about 30 people in them at this point so I figured my chances were slim. They opened the gates at 7:45 (doing the countdown & cheering etc.) and I went straight for the Cane Line on the left side sidewalk on Main Street.

Once I got in the Cane Line it was already all the way down Main Street, I was basically at the “Princess & the Frog” enchanted window. That being said, after waiting in the Cane Line for about 35 minutes I got to the front and got two wristbands. One thing today was that the final batch was at 2 p.m., not 4 and there was NO standby line at all ever.

I came back to the Candy Palace at 1:30ish and they were finishing making the final batch. At pretty much 2 p.m. exactly they started to ring up the sales to those of us in line. So I had my two bubble wrapped canes in hand by about 2:30 p.m.

I did have one guy stop me on Main Street around 10:30ish and offer to buy my wristband and I would have for the right price, but I explained that you can’t remove the wristbands, they’re like a concert wristband. In fact, a cast member at the Candy Palace cuts it off your wrist herself when you reach the front of the pick-up line!

I’m pretty sure my wife and I were standing right behind Jill when we were picking up our candy canes as I remember having a conversation with the woman in front of me about how somebody offered to buy her wristband but she pointed out it couldn’t be taken off.

Our experience was similar except that we were around the corner of the Emporium when we first lined up. I did a quick count at that point and there were at least 150 adults in line ahead of us and they had already been handing out wristbands for a few minutes yet we easily got wristbands. We could get up to 2 each. They much be making more than 120 a day as I can’t imagine they gave out less than 100 ahead of us (as there ere easily still over 20 wristbands in the CM’s hands when we got ours.

We were wondering if this year they’re using both kitchens (DL and DCA) each day and still just distributing in one spot. That would get you up to 240 or so.

I went to Trolley Treats (DCA) this morning and got 2 candy canes. I am an annual pass holder and, as the post mentions, they were giving out wristbands well before opening at 8 a.m. I was allowed in the park right when I got there at 7:45 despite it not being officially open to anyone but extra magic hours guests. I was able to get 2 wristbands for immediate candy cane pick up and there was no one in line in front of me. I highly recommend getting there 20 minutes early. No annual pass holder discount on these but they are so beautiful that I feel like it was worth it!